Tuesday, June 02, 2015

WHO Statement On The Korean MERS Outbreak

# 10,136

The World Health Organization has released a statement on the ongoing MERS outbreak in Korea that provides a pretty good outline of the events to date, an cautions that additional cases are to be expected. The case count mention (25) has now been eclipsed by the events of this afternoon, when 5 more cases were announced.

One of the more interesting bits of information in this summary is that some of the secondary cases may have had only brief (5 minute) exposure to the index case, a scenario which in the past has been considered to carry a fairly low risk of infection.

Why, in this instance, MERS seems to be spreading more efficiently than expected remains a mystery. One that hopefully can be solved fairly quickly, as the Koreans appear more willing to allow outside involvement than have the Saudis.

The outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, in
the Republic of Korea continues to evolve. WHO is in close contact with
the country’s government and Ministry of Health, and is receiving
information as soon as facts are confirmed.

The quality of reporting has allowed almost real-time insight
into the dynamics of the outbreak. Aggressive contact tracing and
testing for infection may help explain the rapid expansion of the
outbreak. Human-to-human transmission has been documented. At this
stage, WHO has no evidence of sustained transmission in the community.

Korea’s first, or “index”, case was confirmed on 20 May and
notified to WHO the same day. The case occurred in a 68-year-old Korean
national with a recent history of travel to four countries in the Middle
East. The case was asymptomatic during his return flight to Korea on 4
May.

He developed symptoms on 11 May and subsequently sought care
at two out-patient clinics and two hospitals, creating multiple
opportunities for exposure among health care workers and other patients.

As the index case provided no history of potential exposure to
the virus, MERS was not suspected and the patient was not treated in
isolation. Efforts are under way to gather more information about
exposures during the patient’s travels in the Middle East.

Expansion of the outbreak

The outbreak is the largest reported outside the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia, where the disease first emerged in April 2012 and the vast
majority of cases have occurred.

To date, contact tracing has identified a total of 25
laboratory-confirmed cases, including the index case and among health
care workers caring for him, patients who were being cared for at the
same clinics or hospitals, and family members and visitors.

Some of these additional cases were in the same room as the
index case; others were on the same ward. Though data are preliminary,
exposure times that led to infection may have been as short as five
minutes to a few hours.

To date, two of these cases have been fatal.

Given the number of clinics and hospitals that cared for the index case, further cases can be expected.

On 26 May, one of the confirmed cases with an exposure history
in Korea travelled, against medical advice, to Guangdong, China, via
Hong Kong. He was symptomatic at the time of travel. On 29 May, China
informed WHO that the patient, who was isolated at a Huizhou hospital,
tested positive for the MERS coronavirus.

The occurrence of such a large outbreak outside the Middle
East is a new development, as is exportation of the disease to a third
country. The Ministry of Health has further reported that two recently
confirmed cases represent a third generation of transmission – from the
index case, to someone exposed to that case, to a third person with no
direct exposure to the index case.

Consistent application of adequate measures for infection
prevention and control has halted other large clusters of cases
associated with health care facilities. WHO recommends that droplet
precautions be added to standard measures when providing care to
patients with symptoms of acute respiratory infections.

WHO does not advise special screening at points of entry nor
does it currently recommend the application of any travel or trade
restrictions.

MERS is a newly emerging disease that remains poorly
understood. Much about the behaviour of the virus remains shrouded in
scientific uncertainty, though evidence is mounting that dromedary
camels can transmit the virus to humans through close contact.

WHO is confident that investigations under way in Korea,
including the sequencing of viruses and sharing of the findings, will
contribute to further scientific understanding of this disease.